Preparing to take on Patrician Brothers Blacktown in the 2025 Peter Mulholland Cup preliminary final, Endeavour Sports student and Cronulla Sharks prospect Thomas Dellow has opened up on his school football and NRL dreams.
Since 1976, several rugby league stars have made a name for themselves in the NRL Schoolboy Cup competition before going on to achieve success in the NRL.
Peter Sterling, Ben Elias, Greg Alexander, Jason Taylor, Nathan Cayless, Adam Reynolds and Lachlan Galvin are a handful of past, present and future stars who have made an impact in the competition over the last few decades.
Now, Thomas Dellow is looking to follow in their footsteps as he prepares to lead Endeavour Sports High School to victory and is one win away from reaching the Grand Final of the Peter Mulholland Cup.
Named the Under-18s ASSRL National Championships Player of the Tournament earlier this year, the two-time Australian Schoolboys is arguably one of the best Australian players under the age of 18 and is already highly regarded by rugby league officials.
However, all his focus is on Wednesday and defeating Patrician Brothers Blacktown in the competition's preliminary final.
"We need to fix our game a bit more and work on being connected and be a family out there and keep improving," Dellow told Zero Tackle.
"It should be a good challenge (against Patrician Brothers). They're a good team, but I reckon we can get over it if we play our best footy and play our footy."
Beyond the 2025 Peter Mulholland Cup, where he hopes to bring success to Endeavour, Dellow has his sights set on making his NRL dream a reality in the coming seasons.
Contracted until the end of the 2027 season, he is still eligible for the Under-19s SG Ball Cup competition for another year before slowly progressing through the ranks to the Under-21s Jersey Flegg Cup and NSW Cup.
Previously admiring Sharks icon Paul Gallen, Dellow has tried to base his game on four-time premiership winner Isaah Yeo, and there are several similarities between the two, especially when it comes to their passing ability and vision in attack, as well as their hard work and determination in defence.
"It's my dream to play in the NRL, so it'd be amazing," Dellow said.
"It's a dream since I was a kid wearing the Sharks jersey. It's just amazing to be honest."
